Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is a military controlled area, where all the news are filtered by the military and the Bangladeshi government.CHT, where blood has shed for decades and hopes were burnt to ashes by the brutes, constitutes of people who want their voice to be heard. We are here to ensure that the voice of these unheard victims in CHT echo around the world despite the Bangladeshi government trying to suppress them in the biased state run media.
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The government should ensure the full implementation of the Chittagong
Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord, 1997 before frustration among the
indigenous community leads to unrest and instability in the region
again, speakers told a discussion yesterday.

“My only urge to
the policymakers and government is please implement the CHT accord in
its full content and essence before it is too late,” said Prof Mizanur
Rahman, chairman, National Human Rights Commission.

The
discussion, “Marginalization and Impunity: Violence Against Women and
Girls in the Chittagong Hill Tracts”, was organised by International
Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission (CHTC) and Bangladesh Indigenous
Women's Network (BIWN) in the capital's Chhayanaut Sangskriti Bhaban.

The full implementation is crucial in ensuring security of indigenous
women and ending impunity currently enjoyed by perpetrators of violence,
the speakers noted.

Chanchana Chakma, general secretary of
BIWN, presented excerpts from a CHTC report which showed how from 1976
onwards militarisation and the state's transmigration programmes to
settle Bangalees in the three southeast hill districts created tension
and led to the two-decade-long armed struggle of indigenous people
against the state. The treaty ended the armed struggle but hill women
continued to be targeted in clashes between Bangalees and the indigenous
community, the report mentioned. The report presented case studies of
violence from 2011-2012, showing how the culture of impunity prevailed
in the regions starting with the unsolved case of indigenous leader
Kalpana Chakma's enforced disappearance in 1996.

KS Mong,
member, Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council, stated how women were
often abducted, forced to convert and marry Bangalee men to intimidate
the indigenous community, who were forced to move away to remote areas
for security. Noting that land was the major issue of conflict in CHT,
Mong stressed the need for an effective land commission. “If the
situation continues to be such, we would either announce and leave the
country and take refuge in India or Myanmar or began preparing ourselves
for resistance again,” he said.

Besides the treaty's
implementation, the CHTC report also recommended establishment of a
national commission of inquiry and committee to monitor violence against
women in the CHT to end the culture of impunity. Employing mixed police
force with more women police and sensitising them also came up from
open discussions.

On Saturday rights activists under the banner Nagorik Shomaj formed a
human chain before Bangladesh National Museum demanding immediate
election to the three CHT district councils.

“Undemocratic
forces are becoming permanently rooted in the hill tracts as no election
of the councils had taken place in 22 years,” said Oikya NAP President
Pankaj Bhattacharya, adding that CHT people have reasons to feel utterly
betrayed.

The activists also criticised the government for
mulling over increasing the number of zila parishad members from five to
11. “Increasing the size instead of holding an election clearly means
that the government is doing this to politicise the CHT zila parishad
with its chosen people,” said Prof Mesbah Kamal of history at Dhaka
University.

Khushi Kabir, also coordinator of Nijera Kori;
Sanjeeb Drong, secretary of the Bangladesh Forum for Indigenous People;
Chanchana Chakma, also president of Hill Women's Federation; and
Associate Prof Robaet Ferdous of Dhaka University also spoke.

According
to Kapaeeng Foundation, an organisation working for protection of the
rights of indigenous people, 19 cases of sexual violence were reported
from January to April this year

Indigenous women and
girls face “double discrimination” – first as women, then as indigenous,
speakers said at a round-table held in the capital yesterday.

With International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
ahead, they said although the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was
signed by the government 17 years ago, indigenous people, particularly
the women, still live under the threat of various criminal acts
frequently taking place in the region, while the culture of impunity and
settlement of Bengalis have left them extremely vulnerable.

The observation came at a session titled: “Marginalisation and Impunity:
Violence against Women and Girls in the Chittagong Hill Tracts,”
organised by CHT Commission (CHTC) at the Ramesh Chandra Hall of
Chhayanaut Bhaban.

Speakers claimed that the culture of
impunity is so prevalent in the CHT areas that victims, despite
suffering constant harassment, have lost interest in filing cases at the
police station. According to Kapaeeng Foundation, an organisation
working for protection of the rights of indigenous people, 19 cases of
sexual violence were reported from January to April this year. Of them,
two were killed after rape, nine were raped, seven fell victim of
attempt to rape and one was abducted.

A total of 227 cases for
violence against women in both the hilly areas and plain lands under CHT
were filed in between 2007 and 2013. The forms included rape, gang
rape, murder after rape, physical assault, attempt to rape, abduction,
sexual harassment and human trafficking. Five rape incidents occurred in
2007 and the number rose three times higher last year. Many of these
cases are not followed up, said the speakers.

Bangladesh
Indigenous Women’s Network General Secretary Chanchana Chakma read out
the keynote paper prepared by Dr Bina D’Costa, a peace and conflict
specialist from the Australian National University.

The report
emphasised that militarisation and transmigration (illegal settlement of
Bengalis in the CHT) that started from 1976, generated extreme
vulnerability and poverty in the region, grossly affecting the safety of
women in CHT. Kalpana Chakma, former organising secretary of Hill
Women’s Federation, who was allegedly abducted from her house by a
military official and two members of the village defence party in 1996,
is still missing.

“Still we do not see any development or any
exemplary punishment to the culprits of similar cases,” said KS Mong, a
member of CHT regional council. He also claimed that the present
government, who signed the Peace Accord, has now lost the courage to
implement it.

The paper suggested that the process to bring
peace and stability in the CHT must begin with the demilitarisation of
the region as stipulated in the 1997 CHT Peace Accord. The paper
recommended the recruitment of an ombudsman to the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) to which NHRC Chairman Dr Mizanur Rahman replied: “I
disagree with the recommendation. Until I have the power to investigate,
recruiting 10 ombudsmen would bring no benefits. First the government
should grant more power to NHRC.”

Rights activists have urged the policy makers to implement the
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) accord completely before it is too late.
The culture of impunity discourage the indigenous people from raising
their voice against the authorities, they observed.

They came
up with the observation at a seminar on "violence against women and
girls in the CHT" organised by CHT Commission (CHTC) at the Chayanat
Bhaban in the capital on Sunday. The seminar blamed that the
militarisation and transmigration programmes have continued to settle
illegally the landless Bangalees from the plain-lands in CHT that was
initiated in 1976 by General Ziaur Rahman.

The settlement has
created extreme vulnerability of and poverty to the adivasis and deeply
affected adivasi girls' safety and security in the region. Rights
activists who recently visited CHT were attacked in Rangamati,
Khagrachari and Bandarban under the very nose of the district
administration and law enforcement agencies by the Bangalee settlers.

Not to anybody's surprise, the police were reluctant to register any
complain of attacks on the rights groups, while the nonchalant
authorities in Dhaka expressed their surprise over the civil
administrations attitude in CHT hesitant to help the victims, the
speakers told the seminar.

Dr Mizanur Rahman, chairman of
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said the commission have probed
the incidents of attacks on the rights activists and have sent strong
notes to relevant authorities with an advice to take legal action
against perpetrators. Unfortunately the authorities have yet to respond
to NHRC to this regards, lamented Dr Mizan. "Well I am still expecting a
pro-active response from the authority on the attacks on the activists.
NHRC have also failed to get any response regarding previous probe
reports on murders, arsons and sexual violence's against the indigenous
people by perpetrators," he said.

Sara Hossain
described how the perpetrators of the attacks on the adivasis have been
able to flex their muscles with blessings of political power and civil
administrations. Even the local police officers face pressure from
political and administrative high-ups not to proceed with the cases
against the Bangalee settlers, she said.

A research paper
"Marginalisation and Impunity: Violence Against Women and Girls in the
CHT" by Bina D'Costa was presented at the seminar. The researcher
recommends for sincere political will to bring peace and stability in
the CHT must begin with the demilitarisation of the region as determined
in 1997 CHT Accord. The research recommends voluntary resettlement of
Bangalees who have illegally occupied lands that belong to the adivasis.

A sustainable gender-sensitive and gender-responsive development
project combating the poverty and inequality of indigenous communities
in the region must be endorsed, it was suggested. Lastly, all
stakeholders must recognise that the end of impunity is fundamental and
urgent, and that without adequate, effective and impartial enforcement
of relevant laws, violence against adivasi women and girls cannot be
mitigated.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Dr. Mizanur Rahman
on Sunday urged the government to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts
peace accord as early as possible, else the country will have to suffer,
reports UNB.

“My earnest request to the government, please
implement the CHT peace accord as early as possible. A stitch in time
saves nine…” he said taking part at a roundtable on ‘Marginalization and
Impunity: Violence against Women and Girls in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts’. The roundtable was arranged jointly by Chittagong Hill Tracts
(CHT) Commission and Adivasi Nari Network at Ramesh Chandra Hall of the
Chayanaut Bhaban, Dhanmondi in the capital.

Dr Mizanur Rahman
said the CHT peace accord would have to be implemented for peace and
security of the entire country as well as for the people of the CHT.
Expressing concern, he said: “Unless the accord is implemented
immediately, political gridlock might break out in the hill
tracts.“Chaired by CHT Commission co-chairman Sultana Kamal, the
programme was also addressed by commission members and Khusi Kabir and
barrister Sara Hossain, commission adviser Meghna Guhathakurta,
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Ayesha Khanam and CHT regional
council member KS Mong.

The
cases of violence against women in the Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT)
areas should get extra attention to end the culture of impunity,
observed human rights activists at a roundtable discussion in the city.

Barrister Sara Hossain, executive director of Bangladesh
Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) said, “Initially, different women
rights organisations come forward for the cases of violence against
women, but gradually they back away and the cases sink into oblivion
with the course of time.” She added the close ones of the victims and
even the victims receive threats constantly from the perpetrators of a
crime after a case is filed.

Also, apathy among the law
enforcers is one the major impediments too, he noted. That is why, the
cases related to violence against women in the hill tracts need to be
treated with extra attention, she opined.

While presenting
the keynote paper, Chanchana Chakma, general secretary of BIWN
(Bangladesh Indigenous Women’s Network) recommended strengthening the
existing women right activists’ network, providing technical and
financial support to enhance capacity building of the indigenous
womenfolk, appointing an ombudsperson at National Human Rights
Commission, sensitising the media, medical officials and the mass people
regarding the issues, and training up the indigenous women regarding
the legal process and ensuring their access to justice.

About Me

Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), home of Jumma Indigenous people, is a military controlled area, where all the news are filtered by the military and the Bangladeshi government. No foreigners are allowed to enter this military zone without obtaining permission from the Bangladeshi government.
CHT, where blood has shed for decades and hopes were burnt to ashes by the brutes, constitutes of people who want their voice to be heard. We are here to ensure that the voice of these unheard victims in CHT echo around the world despite the Bangladeshi government trying to suppress them in the biased state run media.
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